The Ordinance of the North-West Territories cited following is the foundation of the corporate status
of the Archdiocese of Canada.
All other legal establishments of our Archdiocese and Episcopacy are keeping this foundation,
by St Tikhon of Moscow, in mind.
THE ORDINANCE
1903 Ordinance to incorporate the Bishop of the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church, and the Parishes, and Missions of said Church.
ORDINANCES
of
The North-West Territories
Passed in the First Session
of the
Fifth Legislative Assembly
Begun and holden at Regina on Thursday, the Sixteenth
Day of April, and closed on Friday, the
Nineteenth Day of June, 1903
His Honour Amedee Emmanuel Forget
Lieutenant Governor
REGINA
John A. Reid, Government Printer
1903
1903
CHAPTER 42
An Ordinance to incorporate the Bishop of the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church, and the Parishes and Missions of the said Church.
[Assented to June 19, 1903]
Preamble
Whereas the Bishop of the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church for North America and the Aleutian Islands, has petitioned that he, his successors in office having jurisdiction over the said church in Canada, and each of the duly authorised parishes and missions in the Territories be incorporated; and it is expedient to grant the prayer of the said petition;
Therefore the Lieutenant Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Territories enacts as follows:
Incorporation
1. The Bishop of the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church for North America and the Aleutian Islands and his successors in office, having jurisdiction in Canada, is hereby incorporated for the purposes mentioned in this Ordinance, under the name of “The Bishop of the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church” (hereinafter called the corporation sole) with all the. powers and privileges contained in paragraph 38 of section 8 of chapter 1 of the Consolidated Ordinances 1898.
Power to hold
2. The corporation sole may receive and hold property of any kind
real property for the uses and purposes of the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church in the North-West Territories, including the uses and purposes of any parish or mission, institution, college, school or hospital, now or hereafter connected with the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox church, and that it may receive any devise by will, gift, deed, conveyance of land or any estate or interest therein and sell, alienate, mortgage or lease any lands, tenements and hereditaments held by it.
Executive Committee
3. The corporation sole may exercise all its powers by and through an executive committee, or such boards or committees as the bishop from time to time appoints for the management of any of the affairs of the said bishopric in the North-West Territories, but in accordance only with the trust relating to any property upon or for which the same is held.
Service of papers
4. The corporation sole shall appoint and fix at least one place in the Territories where service of process may be made upon the corporation sole in respect of any cause of action arising within the Territories, and may afterwards from time to time change such place. And a certificate fixing or changing any such place under the seal of the corporation sole, and verified by the signature of the bishop of the said church, for the time being, shall be deposited in the office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies for the Territories. And if any cause of action shall arise against the corporation sole within the Territories and any writ or process be issued against the corporation sole therein out of any court in the Territories, service of such process may be validly made upon the corporation sole at a place within the Territories so appointed and fixed; but if the corporation sole fail to appoint and fix such place, or to deposit, as hereinbefore provided, the certificate in that behalf above named, any such process may be validly served upon the corporation sole by service of the same upon any priest or officer in charge of the religious, educational or charitable institution, instituted under the provisions of this Ordinance, nearest to the place where such cause of action arose.
Execution of documents
5. Instruments executed by the corporation sole shall be verified by the signature of the bishop or a member of his consistory, for that purpose by him in writing appointed.
Incorporation of parishes and missions
6. The priest in charge and trustees of any parish or mission in the North-West Territories now or hereafter duly organised according to the constitution of the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church shall be a body politic and corporate and they and their successors under the name of “The Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Parish (or Mission) of (here insert the particular designation of the parish or mission in question),” hereinafter called the corporation aggregate, with all the powers and privileges contained in paragraph 38 of section 8 of chapter 1 of The Consolidated Ordinances of 1898.
Power to hold
7. Each corporation aggregate may receive and hold property of real property any kind for religious, educational and charitable uses and may receive by will, gift, deed, conveyance of land or any estate or interest therein, and sell, alienate, mortgage or lease any land, tenements and hereditaments held by it:
Provided that in the administration of real property as regards selling, exchanging, alienating, mortgaging or leasing (except as regards the sale of burial plots in any cemetery for which consent shall not be necessary), the corporation aggregate shall first obtain the consent of the bishop of the said church for the time being having jurisdiction over such parish or mission.
Execution of documents by corporation aggregate
8. Instruments executed by the corporation aggregate shall be verified by the signature of the priest in charge and trustees constituting the body corporate, and the consent to such dealing by the bishop as aforesaid to be verified by his signature, or that of a member of his consistory for that purpose by him in writing appointed.
Public Ordinance
9. This Ordinance shall be a public ordinance
1904
Chapter 29
An Ordinance to amend Chapter 42 of the Ordinances of 1903 (First Session), entitled “An Ordinance to incorporate the Bishop of the Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church and the Parishes and Missions of the said Church.”
[Assented to October 8, 1904]
The Lieutenant Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Territories enacts as follows:
1. Section 6 of Chapter 42 of the Ordinances of 1903 (first session) is hereby amended by inserting after the word “church” where it occurs in the fourth line thereof the words “and their successors in office” and by striking out the words “and they and their successors” where they occur in the fifth line thereof.
The Archdiocese of Canada, The Orthodox Church in America July, 1998